Ma‘al Hijrah 1429

Welcome to the new lunar year of Hijrah 1429. Tomorrow shall be the first day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sanctified months (Dzul-Qa‘edah, Dzul-Hijjah, Muharram, and Rajab) that Allah has gazetted (At-Tawbah: 36).

The practices (as encouraged by Muslim scholars) of this time is to recite this end-of-year prayer/supplication/do‘a at the end of ‘Asr time, just before Maghrib, preferably 3 times:

By the time the reciting of the do‘a has ended, it should be Maghrib, and therefore the Azan (the prayer call) is performed. After the Azan and the Azan’s do‘a, then it is encouraged to recite this beginning-of-year do‘a (also preferably 3 times) followed by the Maghrib prayer:

This beginning-of-year do‘a can also be recited after the Maghrib prayer, since Maghrib is fardh, and the do‘a isn’t.

In Malaysia, generally, this marks the beginning of the National Ma‘al Hijrah celebration.

Some links on the do‘a here, here, and here. Do‘a is the weapon of the Mukmin. So go ahead and pray and do‘a. Just ignore those bid‘aah flag bearers.